Bhel bags Rs 200 cr Railways order for traction converters

The state-owned BHEL on Friday said that it has bagged a major order from Indian Railways for supply of IGBT-based traction converters.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited owned by the Government of India, is an engineering and manufacturing company based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1964, BHEL is India’s largest power plant equipment manufacturer.

“Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged a major order for supply of 118 sets of IGBT-based traction converters for 3 Phase 6,000 HP electric locomotives,” the company said in a statement.

Valued at Rs 200 crore, the order has been placed on BHEL by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), it said.

The traction converters will be manufactured and supplied by BHEL’s Electronics Division, Bengaluru.

Significantly, BHEL has already supplied 225 such IGBT-based traction converters, which are in operation with Indian Railways.

BHEL has been working very closely with Indian Railways for the past more than four decades to meet its requirements of electric propulsion equipment for rolling stock and mainline electric locomotives.

The company has emerged as a reliable partner for the Railways through its long-term association, providing quality products and prompt after-sales service.

In the transportation sector, BHEL manufactures a wide range of traction propulsion equipment at its Bhopal, Jhansi and Bengaluru plants.

The company offers system design, manufacturing, supervision of commissioning and countrywide after-sales support for the entire range of propulsion equipment required for diesel electric locomotives, electric locomotives, AC EMUs, DEMUs and the like.

It also manufactures complete electric locomotives for the Railways and diesel electric shunting locomotives for industrial customers at its Jhansi plant.

To catch up with technological advancements with an eye on continuous improvement of equipment and transportation systems, BHEL has set up Centre for Electric Transportation at its Bhopal plant and Centre of Excellence for Transportation at its Bengaluru plant.

The centres are designed to act as the focalpoint for systems-oriented research in railway transportation. These have facilities for vehicle testing and computer simulation of service operations.